California Reentry Program gives ex-cons a second chance

JEFFERSON AWARD / Presented to Allyson West

Shelah Moody, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, December 9, 2007

Photo: Kurt Rogers

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Allyson West a Jefferson Award winner she runs a program that enlists volunteers for the California Re-Entry Program.They go to San Quentin Prison twice a week to advise resource information to men who will soon return to society.
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Kurt Rogers / The Chronicle Photo taken on 11/30/07, in Mountain View, CA, USA MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT less

Allyson West a Jefferson Award winner she runs a program that enlists volunteers for the California Re-Entry Program.They go to San Quentin Prison twice a week to advise resource information to men who will ... more

Photo: Kurt Rogers

California Reentry Program gives ex-cons a second chance

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Allyson West has never been afraid to venture into situations that others consider risky, whether it involved moving to India to teach Tibetan refugees to use computers or volunteering to teach prisoners at San Quentin.

After teaching at San Quentin for three years, West started the California Reentry Program in 2003, which helps inmates re-enter society after they serve their sentences.

"My father was a Superior Court judge in Ventura County," said West, who holds a bachelor's degree in math from the University of San Diego. "He died when I was quite young. I was interested in what happened to the people that he sentenced, but I've always had an interest in alternative populations. By that, I mean populations of people who I think society tends to think of as different, scary or exotic. I get to see people in all of these contexts, and I learn that they are just like us."

Through the California Reentry Program, West supervises a team of volunteers who help San Quentin inmates deal with parole officers, find transitional housing or substance abuse treatment, apply for college and financial aid and get jobs and job training.

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West said she normally recruits volunteers on Craigslist and said her dedicated team of 25 regular volunteers, who put in countless hours of driving Bay Area freeways during rush hour, make the program possible. After attending a two-hour orientation session to learn about prison visitation rules, they head to the prison two nights a week. The consultations are on a first-come, first-served basis, West explained.

"The volunteer goes home, makes phone calls, gets on the Internet, prints out resources, whatever is needed, and comes back the next week and gives the (client) the information he asked for. That relationship can last for one night if they say, 'Oh, I need a DMV book and a practice test' - we just hand it to him because we have resources there on-site," she said. "Or it could last for months with the guy coming in every week, trying to develop a very comprehensive parole plan. Everybody's needs are very specific and individual, and that's why I want to provide individual advisers, because there's no one-size-fits-all."

West said that most of the men she works with were sent to prison for parole violations. She recalled one man who was released from prison and found an 8-to-5 job. He was sent back to San Quentin because he chose to report to work instead of meeting with his parole officer at 9 a.m. that day.

West said that the San Quentin staff has been supportive, understanding and respectful of the program.

"I've had nothing but good experiences at San Quentin," West said.

Her ultimate goal is for every person who is imprisoned in California to have access to resources in the communities to which they will return. She said she does not want inmates to spend their first 24 to 72 hours out of prison engaging in any activities, such as selling drugs, that would send them right back.

West said she is particularly proud of one of the California Reentry Program's recent success stories.

"He was involved in a homicide through his gang activities," West said. "He ended up doing 10 years in prison, many of those at San Quentin. I knew him first in the college program. Then, when he got close to being released, he started coming to my program. He'd finished his associate of arts degree in prison and then wanted to get his bachelor's degree. I worked with him to get his financial aid package together, and I also worked very hard to get him transferred to the Bay Area because he was afraid that if he went back to Los Angeles, he would get in trouble with his gang. He didn't want to go back to his old neighborhood.

"I worked a lot with his parole agent in Los Angeles and with his parole agent in the Bay Area, and I worked with San Francisco State University to get him into their Project Rebound program, which was specifically designed for people who were formerly incarcerated. Project Rebound was so impressed with him that they hired him as an intern. They are working with troubled youth in San Francisco, trying to keep them out or prison. He worked very hard to have a different life."

Each week, The Chronicle features a Bay Area resident who has won a Jefferson Award for making a difference in his or her community. The awards are administered by the American Institute for Public Service, a national foundation that honors community service. Bay Area residents profiled in The Chronicle are also featured on CBS 5-TV and KCBS-AM, which are Jefferson Award media partners, along with The Chronicle.